A seven-junction electron pump: design, fabrication, and operation

We have developed a seven-junction electron pump for use in a new standard of capacitance based on measuring the voltage produced when a known charge is placed on a capacitor. This new pump, with an error per pumped electron of 15/spl times/10/sup -9/, is about 30 times more accurate than a five-jun...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE transactions on instrumentation and measurement 1997-04, Vol.46 (2), p.307-310
Main Authors: Keller, M.W., Martinis, J.M., Steinbach, A.H., Zimmerman, N.M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Capacitance measurement
Capacitors
Charge measurement
Current measurement
Electronics
Electrons
Exact sciences and technology
Fabrication
Measurement standards
NIST
Standards development
Testing, measurement, noise and reliability
Voltage measurement
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Summary:We have developed a seven-junction electron pump for use in a new standard of capacitance based on measuring the voltage produced when a known charge is placed on a capacitor. This new pump, with an error per pumped electron of 15/spl times/10/sup -9/, is about 30 times more accurate than a five-junction pump made previously at NIST. By careful design of the pump geometry, we have reduced the effect of cross capacitance and simplified device operation. Our fabrication recipe produces small, stable tunnel junctions relatively quickly and reliably. We have developed a method of tuning the pump for highly accurate electron counting. This tuning can be quickly repeated whenever fluctuations in background charges degrade accuracy.
ISSN:0018-9456
1557-9662
DOI:10.1109/19.571841